Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Community Composition and Ecological Disturbance on Southern Idaho Rangeland

Fielding, Dennis J.; Brusven, Merlyn A.

doi:10.1093/ee/22.1.71

Cited by 57 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…In recent decades, there have been several studies on orthopteran assemblages in the northern hemisphere; especially in North America, where different aspects of rangeland grasshopper communities have been studied in detail (e.g. Kemp et al, 1990;Kemp 1992a, b;Fielding & Brusven, 1993;1995;Joern, 2004Joern, , 2005Jonas & Joern, 2007). Most of the community studies done in the Palaearctic are for central Europe and address dry and semi-dry grassland habitats (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The classification of insect communities: Lessons from orthopteran assemblages of semi-dry calcareous grasslands in central Germany

Poniatowski¹,

Fartmann²

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Whereas the classification of plant communities has a long tradition that of animal assemblages remains poorly developed. Here we propose a classification scheme for orthopteran communities based on regional "character species", "differential species" and "attendant species" at different levels of habitat complexity, which is also applicable to other insect groups. In this context there are three main points of special importance: (i) the geographical reference area, (ii) the hierarchical spatial level (e.g. habitat complex, habitat and microhabitat) and (iii) precise constancy criteria for the definition of character species and differential species. We develop this new approach using a study on orthopteran communites of central German semi-dry calcareous grasslands. Within this habitat, we describe seven structural types that are characterized by specific orthopteran communities. For the arrangement of the structural types several environmental parameters (e.g. height and density of vegetation) were collected. Orthopteran densities were sampled at 80 sites using a biocoenometer (box quadrat). Regional character species of semi-dry grasslands include Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Metrioptera brachyptera, Stenobothrus lineatus and Tetrix tenuicornis. Within this habitat, Chorthippus parallelus, Metrioptera roeselii, Omocestus viridulus, Pholidoptera griseoaptera and Tettigonia viridissima were designated as differential species for particular structural types. Furthermore, Tettigonia cantans and Tettigonia viridissima act as altitudinal differential species. Chorthippus biguttulus is the only attendant species with high constancy values in all structural types. This classification is a powerful tool for arthropod conservation, since it allows one to determine community completeness of very important and threatened habitats, like semi-dry calcareous grasslands.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The classification of insect communities: Lessons from orthopteran assemblages of semi-dry calcareous grasslands in central Germany

Poniatowski¹,

Fartmann²

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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“…), availability of food, structural qualities, oviposition sites, suitable hiding places, and the presence of predators (Joern 1982). Several studies have examined the relationship between grasshopper assemblage composition and vegetation patterns in grassland ecosystems throughout the world (Kemp et al 1990;Fielding and Brusven 1993;Wachter et al 1998;Torrusio et al 2002). Although plant diversity and vegetation structure often positively affect grasshopper diversity, in most grassland ecosystems it is still not completely clear which vegetation characteristics are the most important (Haddad et al 2001;Joern 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

et al. 2013

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The construction of ski-pistes can cause serious damage to all the components of an ecosystem and may therefore be considered as one of the main causes of human-driven environmental changes in mountain habitats. This study was aimed at assessing the responses of different ground dwelling arthropod assemblages (i.e. ground beetles, spiders and grasshoppers) to ski-piste restoration through hydroseeding with commercial seed mixtures. The soil, vegetation and arthropods of restored and un-restored ski-pistes and the adjacent grassland have been sampled at two high altitude sites in the north-western Italian Alps. The ski-piste soil was characterized by a higher skeletal content and, consequently, a lower amount of fine earth and organic matter than that of the undisturbed adjacent grassland. The plant cover of the restored ski-pistes was very low above 2500 m a.s.l.; the vegetation cover below this threshold was higher in the study area, mainly due to the seeded species. The unrestored ski-pistes showed very large proportions of bare ground. The responses of the three ground-dwelling arthropod groups to vegetation conditions were different. GLMMs and IndVal analyses showed that all three groups avoided the unrestored skipistes plots, which were characterized by a very scarce vegetation cover, irrespective of the altitude. The low altitude plots of the restored ski-pistes, which were characterized by a high vegetation cover, had a significantly larger number of grasshoppers on the ski-pistes than on the adjacent grassland plots. Moreover, these restored ski-piste plots were used in equal proportion to the adjacent grassland plots by ground beetles but avoided by spiders. When ski-pistes become sufficiently revegetated by hydroseeded plants, they are colonized by grasshoppers and, to a lesser extent, by ground-beetles. Spiders, instead, do not colonize the pistes, thus demonstrating that they are the most sensitive arthropods and may therefore represent the best indicators of human-driven environmental changes in high altitude alpine habitats.

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“…Especially in North America, where different aspects of rangeland grasshopper communities have been studied in detail (e.g. Kemp et al, 1990;Kemp, 1992a, b;Fielding & Brusven, 1993a, b, 1995Joern, 2004Joern, , 2005. Most community studies in the Palaearctic are for central Europe and dry and semi-dry grassland habitats (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthopteran communities in the conifer-broadleaved woodland zone of the Russian Far East

Fartmann¹,

Behrens²,

Loritz³

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. We investigate orthopteran communities in the natural landscape of the Russian Far East and compare the habitat requirements of the species with those of the same or closely related species found in the largely agricultural landscape of central Europe. The study area is the 1,200 km 2 Lazovsky State Nature Reserve (Primorsky region, southern Russian Far East) 200 km east of Vladivostok in the southern spurs of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains (134°E/43°N). The abundance of Orthoptera was recorded in August and September 2001 based on the number present in 20 randomly placed 1 m² quadrates per site. For each plot (i) the number of species of Orthoptera, (ii) absolute species abundance and (iii) fifteen environmental parameters characterising habitat structure and microclimate were recorded. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used first to determine whether the Orthoptera occur in ecologically coherent groups, and second, to assess their association with habitat characteristics. In addition, the number of species and individuals in natural and semi-natural habitats were compared using a t test. A total of 899 individuals of 31 different species were captured, with numbers ranging between 2 and 13 species per plot. Species diversity was higher in semi-natural habitats than natural habitats. There was a similar but non-significant pattern in species density. Ordination analysis indicated four orthopteran communities, which were clearly separable along a moisture and vegetation density gradient. The natural sites in the woodland area of the Lazovsky Zapovednik are characterized by species-poor and low-density orthopteran assemblages compared to the semi-natural sites. But, the natural sites have a higher diversity of habitat specialists. Our findings corroborate the hypothesis that intermediate habitat disturbance levels support particularly species-rich animal communities at high densities. Under such regimes, orthopterans presumably mostly profit from the high diversity in plant species, which generates great structural and microclimatic heterogeneity.

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Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Community Composition and Ecological Disturbance on Southern Idaho Rangeland

Cited by 57 publications

References 0 publications

The classification of insect communities: Lessons from orthopteran assemblages of semi-dry calcareous grasslands in central Germany

The classification of insect communities: Lessons from orthopteran assemblages of semi-dry calcareous grasslands in central Germany

Differential responses of ground dwelling arthropods to ski-piste restoration by hydroseeding

Orthopteran communities in the conifer-broadleaved woodland zone of the Russian Far East

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